


The Best of Him

by RoseintheMist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26910724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseintheMist/pseuds/RoseintheMist
Summary: Harry and Hermione's quick actions save Snape's life. But how will he react to learning that Harry has revealed his deepest secret?
Kudos: 3





	The Best of Him

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the amazing Harry Potter universe - this is just a fanfiction!** 😉
> 
> **An asterix after a sentence indicates a quote taken from J.K. Rowling, _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows._**
> 
> This was the first fanfiction I wrote on Quora, in response to a question asking what the conversation would be like between Harry and Snape if Snape survived. Fascinated, my muse ran with it... 😉 Enjoy!

************************************** After Voldemort attacks Snape with Nagini and leaves ******************************************

Harry slipped quietly into the room. He heard Hermione and Ron following him, and Hermione’s muffled gasp as they approached Snape’s figure, hunched and pale and bloody.

Hermione muttered something, but Harry’s brain seemed to have gone numb; he hardly knew what to feel, beyond revulsion and shock at the swift attack. He slipped off his Invisibility Cloak and saw Snape’s eyes widen.

“Harry!” Hermione’s urgent voice jolted him into awareness. “Put this in his mouth! Quickly!”

She handed him a small, knarled object. A bezoar.

“Harry! _Now!”_ Hermione was bending down, rubbing something swiftly on Snape’s wounded neck.

Without further hesitation, Harry slipped the bezoar into Snape’s mouth and pushed it down his throat. He couldn’t just watch him die. Snape gargled and wheezed. Hermione sat back, as the flow of blood at his neck now slowed to a trickle. Snape went silent and his eyes closed, and for a moment Harry thought that he had died.

Then Snape gave a strangled gasp, and his eyes flew open. His gaze took in the three of them, and then he reached out and grabbed Harry’s robes. “Potter -“ he whispered hoarsely. “Take it…”

Silvery streams were oozing from Snape’s eyes, ears and mouth. _Memories - why?_

“Here!” Hermione thrust a flask into Harry’s hands, and he quickly filled it, the threads swirling around the flask. Whatever they were, they must be important.

Once every strand was taken, Snape seemed to relax. “Look… at.. me…” he whispered.*

Startled, Harry looked into Snape’s black eyes. Then Snape’s breath exhaled on a sigh, and his eyes drifted closed.

“Is he - “ Hermione whispered. She leaned forwards and took Snape’s wrist, biting her lip. But a second later she dropped it with a gasp as a high, cold voice filled the room.

**************************************** After Voldemort’s Ultimatum ****************************************

“Don’t listen to him,*” Ron told Harry fiercely.

Hermione took Snape’s wrist again, looking distracted and agitated. After a moment she set it down again. “I can’t tell if there’s a pulse… We can’t do anything else right now, though, can we? We’ve got to get back and figure out what to do… We’ll tell someone, maybe they can come get him.”

Harry nodded. He looked down at the man who had taunted and bullied him for so many years, now hunched and still. Pity and curiosity now mingled with dislike. He clutched the flask more tightly and turned and followed the other two back to the Castle.

It was eerily quiet. Hermione scanned the Great Hall and let out a sob, hurrying towards the Weasleys who were grouped around Fred’s body. Ron followed, looking pale and drawn.

Harry slipped into the shadows. He saw Hermione hug Ginny, and then she moved over to Mr Weasley and said something into his ear. Mr Weasley stared towards the doorway with a slight frown.

Then Harry saw the still figures beside Fred… Remus and Tonks. _No._ His mind rebelled. He couldn’t take anymore. So much death, death that was all his fault… He left the room blindly. _Snape’s memories_ … Snape was desperate for him to see them. And he needed something, _anything,_ else to focus on.

**************************************** After Voldemort’s Death ****************************************

It was all over. Harry was exhausted, shaking hands with jubilant well-wishers, receiving thanks, his head buzzing. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder, and Hermione’s voice was whispering in his ear. “Harry, I’ve got to tell you something. Luna’s going to cause a distraction, and then slip on your Cloak and follow me.”

Harry heard Luna cry out, “Oooh, look, a Blibbering Humdinger!*” and in the commotion that followed, he slipped on the Cloak and followed Hermione out of the Great Hall.

Ron was waiting in the Entrance Hall. He looked at Hermione and she nodded. Harry glanced from one to the other. “What’s going on?” he whispered.

“We can’t - not here, Harry. Follow us,” Hermione whispered.

Weary, not sure how much more drama he could handle, Harry followed them down a rubble-strewn corridor and then another, and finally into a small room at the end, which had escaped damage. In the shadowed corner was a bed, and on it lay…

“Snape?” he croaked.

“He’s alive,” Hermione said. “Mr Weasley got a group together and they went down and got him. We didn’t know how the others would react, so we’re keeping him separate for now. Madame Pomfrey knows, she’s been tending to him when she can. He’s under a Sleeping Draught right now.”

Snape - _alive?_ He didn’t know what to think. After all he’d seen, the memories, the revelations, both good and bad…

Hermione bit her lip. “Harry, what you said when you faced Voldemort…”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “I saw it in the Pensieve. It’s all true. He loved my mother, and he was working for Dumbledore.”

Hermione exchanged glances with Ron, then nodded. “He can’t talk much, yet, and he’s very weak, but Madame Pomfrey says he’ll live. We should leave him for now, but… I wanted you to know.”

“I need to see Dumbledore,” said Harry. Now, even more than before. They made their way through the rubble to the headmaster’s office, and Harry saw with relief Dumbledore there in the portrait, beaming at him.

“I know about Snape,” Harry said in a rush. “Voldemort tried to kill him, to get the Elder Wand, but he survived - thanks to Hermione.”

“But this is wonderful news,” said Dumbledore, his smile even wider. “Well done, Miss Granger. Harry… I know you have had considerable troubles with him, but he has been faithful to me, and so he deserves to know… what happened, and why.”

Harry nodded. The thought of facing Snape, knowing what he now knew… but he wouldn’t think about that now. After a long rest… maybe then he’d be able to think what to say, how to feel.

************

That evening, after a sandwich delivered by Kreacher and a wonderfully long, deep nap, Harry wandered down to find the Great Hall much emptier. Hermione and Ron were still there, to his relief. They were talking quietly with the Weasleys at one of the tables. Harry walked over to them. Ginny looked up and gave him a small smile. He felt his lips curve slightly in response, which felt strange, as if he’d forgotten how to smile. Later... they had so much to talk about. But first... 

“Harry!” said Mr Weasley with a tired smile.

“Need anything to eat, Harry?” asked Mrs Weasley.

“No, I’m fine,” said Harry. “Erm - I wanted to know -” He looked at Ron and Hermione and hesitated, uncertain as to who knew.

Hermione gave him an understanding look. “Let’s go for a walk, Harry.” Ron followed as they got up, and they retraced their earlier steps.

The room was brighter now, lit by several floating candles. Madame Pomfrey was bending over the bed. She straightened up with a frown, and then relaxed as she saw them. “Ah, it’s you three. Well, he’s awake, and he’s a bit better - but don’t stay long.” She gave them a stern look and walked briskly out.

Snape’s black eyes were open, and he was staring at Harry with a faint frown.

“Go on, Harry,” Hermione whispered. “We’ll just be… outside.” She nodded encouragingly at him and pulled Ron out.

Slowly, Harry slowly approached the bed, still not sure what to say or what reaction he would get. It felt as though the world had shifted, and he was in unfamiliar territory.

Snape’s black eyes were narrowed, assessing. “Well?” he said, his voice raspy. “You saw it?”

“Yes,” said Harry. “And I went to the Forest like he said.”

“But you are not dead.” Snape’s eyebrows rose sardonically.

“No.” Dumbledore’s words echoed in Harry’s head. _He deserves to know._ He began to explain what happened.

Snape listened with an intense expression. When he heard about Harry’s return, his lips twisted. “So Dumbledore guessed, but he didn’t tell me.” He paused and nodded, as if to himself. “Because neither of us could know.”

“Yes,” said Harry. He took a deep breath. Snape had to know, no matter how he reacted. “I killed Voldemort.”

Snape’s eyes held a flash of triumph. “I surmised as much. He is truly gone? Completely?”

“Yes. Completely. But -” he paused, then hurried forwards - “before I killed him in front of everyone, I told him that you no longer worked for him, and why.”

Snape’s eyes glittered dangerously and he moved as if to sit up, only to fall back. “You _what?”_

“He needed to know that the Elder Wand was never his. And I thought you were gone, and I wanted everyone to know - the good things that you had done.”

Snape seemed incoherent with rage. “You had no right - yet again - foolish pride! Can you not understand the meaning- _my_ private -” He spluttered to a halt, eyes snapping.

Harry winced. He did know what it was to have secrets that you never wanted revealed. “I’m sorry, but I think I did the right thing, under the circumstances.” He steeled himself for the next challenge. “And I want to thank you -”

 _“Don’t!”_ Snape hissed.

“I know it wasn’t for me,” Harry said quickly. “But I want to thank you for what you did for me, and for the Order. Despite - doing it very ungraciously most of the time.” He had to make that point as well.

Snape’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t answer, his fingers still gripping the blanket convulsively.

Harry hesitated. He didn’t want to leave like this. After a moment, he said quietly, “What will you do now?” They both had been Dumbledore’s agents, and now they were free.

“Do?” Snape’s lips twisted again. “There is nothing left for me to do.” He shot Harry a venomous look. “Go. _Leave me.”_

Harry hesitated, unsettled. Snape sounded so morbid. Mixed though his feelings were, he wanted Snape to live, to have something to live for. “There are a lot of important things you can do. Things she would be proud of.”

Snape’s eyes flashed. “Don’t speak of her to me!”

But Lily was the only motivation he could think of. Hopefully eventually Snape would have others. “Think about what she would want you to do, with all this mess Voldemort’s left behind.”

Snape glared at him, but behind the ire Harry thought there was a tiny flicker of consideration. He’d leave him to think. “I’m going now. But I’ll come later.” He would also ask Madame Pomfrey to keep a close eye on him.

“Don’t bother,” Snape spat.

“Heal up quickly, and I won’t have to,” Harry challenged.

Snape frowned, but said nothing. Harry turned to go. Hopefully Snape would try to get better. And perhaps one day Snape might forgive him for revealing his secret… the secret that had led to the best part of him.

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly I couldn’t get them to reconcile more than that in one conversation, hard as I tried! But I’m holding out hope for eventual healing, forgiveness, and new purpose for Snape. Harry certainly isn't going to give up on him. 😉 
> 
> If my muse complies, I'd love to eventually turn this into a longer story to explore what might happen. Even if I have to drag Snape kicking and screaming to happiness... 😉


End file.
